When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a strain as well. The ability to cruise along on flat inland water, surveying the sights, is another advantage. Finally, its a good core workout. If youre sold on the idea, schedule an intro SUP lesson, free with board and paddle rental, and you may find yourself riding the waves like a Polynesian king.More

In the past 30 years, light artists have reimagined an art form that has always had the ability to turn the night sky, or a simple window, into luminescence. Last fall, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts turned its southern glass wall into a parade of sound-sensing lights, Lightswarm, that changes with the movements of nearby people and things. Future Cities Lab, the San Francisco design company behind Lightswarm, has originated another notable light sculpture. Located by the YBCA's steps at 701 Mission, Murmur Wall will light up in arresting ways as it incorporates local trending search engine results and social media postings. Onlookers can offer their own contributions, which will feed into the Murmur Wall's data stream and light up the sculpture. What's trending in San Francisco? If you're walking by the YBCA, you can see firsthand — at least through light patterns that reflect the city's volatile internet habits.
Murmur Wall debuts Thursday at 6 p.m. and continues through May 31, 2017, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St., S.F. Free; 415-978-2700 or ybca.org. More

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In 2013, when Catharine Clark moved her eponymous gallery from 49 Geary to the Potrero Hill area, she gave herself more room to work with, including a dedicated media space that has shown indelible work by such artists as Shalo P ("The Bedroom Suite"), Nina Katchadourian ("In a Room Full of Strangers"), and Andy Diaz Hope and Jon Bernson ("Beautification Machines").

But then last night, during Metallica's second 30th Anniversary show at the Fillmore, the fans were warned. Before the band brought out Reed to play a couple songs off Lulu, its much-derided collaboration album with the former Velvet Underground singer, the members issued a gushing tribute to the art-punk godfather. Drummer Lars Ulrich notified the fan club-only audience that, "If you fuck with him, he will beat your ass." But it was probably Ulrich's second warning that really made the fans behave: "If you're not nice, we're gonna play the whole album, okay?"

So when Reed finally came out, looking rather tame in a fuddy-duddy leather jacket and eyeglasses, and standing several feet back from the edge of the stage, the fans were almost completely polite (and quiet). A few scattered boos rang out. But when the group leaned into "Iced Honey," the most palatable song off Lulu, the goateed heads inside the Fillmore were nodding, if not banging. Onstage, Metallica's monstrous chug nearly drowned out Reed's flat-toned mumbling, reversing the dynamic that the two collaborators have on their record. Instead of a madman rambling loudly over discordant riffage, Reed sounded like a small piece of flotsam spinning helplessly in a whirlpool of deep black power chords.

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Jeff Yeager

It's Lou Reed!

Even "The View" -- whose studio recording is almost comically disjointed -- approached palatability onstage. Hetfield's vocal contributions were loud enough to seem purposeful, and the Metallica singer grinned wildly at his collaborator as the song progressed. Reed was for the most part stiff. (Out of indifference or fear? We couldn't tell.) None of the songs Reed played with Metallica last night -- including their raucous take on "White Light/White Heat" -- were crowd favorites, although the latter especially earned a polite reception. But when Reed's time was over, he was given a respectable amount of applause.

The contrast became clear immediately after he left, when Metallica ripped into the beloved "Creeping Death" with former bassist Jason Newsted. The ballroom filled with raised hands in the shape of devil horns, chants of "Die!" (it's part of the song), and furious head-banging. As he did throughout the two anniversary shows, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett reproduced his triumphant guitar solo note-for-note, seemingly with a minimum of effort, which drove many beery Metallica fans into hilarious air-guitarring. When "Battery" arrived next, it seemed like the room might explode. It's difficult to imagine the sonic brutality that results when Metallica, bolstered by two bassists, performs one of its classic thrash metal songs with superhuman precision in a smallish room at incredible volume. If you could bottle the experience, you could build a smart bomb. A happiness-inducing smart bomb. Even the ever-chatty Ulrich was speechless: "Jesus christ -- how the fuck do we follow that?" he quipped, after "Battery" had subsided. We didn't hear an answer.

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Jeff Yeager

Kid Rock with Metallica

Reed was but one in a parade of guests last night, continuing the pattern Metallica established with Monday's show. We heard from Marianne Faithful, who made a rather quiet contribution to "The Memory Remains"; Kid Rock, who delivered all the words to the Bob Seger classic "Turn the Page" without actually singing any of them; the Danish metal band Mercyful Fate, whose members reunited to play their nearly 12-minute titular song; Newsted, who should rejoin Metallica so the band can have two bass players; Armored Saint singer John Bush, who once turned down a chance to be lead singer in Metallica; Sweet Savage singer Ray Haller, who performed "Killing Time" with the band; and Scott Ian, who appeared during the finale, not Metallica's main set, and who grinned a lot for a guy whose own group is called Anthrax.

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Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'.
Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"